Overview
Every parent knows the daily loop: "Did you brush your teeth? Make your bed? Read?", repeated ten times a day. Habit Rabbit replaces that nagging with routines that actually stick. Parents assign habits from a curated catalog (or create their own), kids complete them and prove it, and approved points become real money, set and paid by the parent. The result is lasting routines and balanced growth across every area of a child's day, not just chores. It's live on the App Store and Google Play, on both iOS and Android, in English and Arabic with full right-to-left layouts.
The Challenge
Building a rewards app for families means designing for two very different users at once, adding real money to the mix, and doing it in a way that's safe for children, all while shipping to two app stores.
- Two roles that share the same data but need completely different experiences: parents who run the show, and kids who get a simple, playful view of their own progress. Younger children often have no phone at all, so the whole loop has to work from the parent's device.
- Real money, handled responsibly: the app must never process a payment itself: it only keeps score, and the parent hands over their own pocket money.
- Motivation that doesn't turn into grinding: once points are worth money, the naive incentive is to farm the single easiest habit forever, and to keep farming it long after the habit is learned.
- Kid-safe by design: no ads, no tracking, minimal data, and proof photos that don't linger on a server.
- One system spanning three products (parent/kid mobile app, backend, and a web admin + marketing site), kept perfectly in sync, plus store subscriptions on both platforms.
How I Solved It
Habit Rabbit is three connected products built as one system: a React Native / Expo mobile app for parents and kids, a NestJS + PostgreSQL backend that acts as the brain, and a Next.js web admin dashboard and marketing site. Changes sync live, so an approval or a new habit appears instantly across devices.
The core loop is deliberately simple: a parent assigns habits from a catalog (or creates their own), the child completes one and snaps a quick photo/video as proof, the parent reviews and approves, and approved habits credit points. Points convert to real money at a parent-set rate, and cash-out uses a QR code the parent scans to pay in person. The app keeps the score, never the money. Proof media is deleted once it has been reviewed.
Two design decisions do the heavy lifting. Habits carry a mastery target: they pay points only until the child hits it, after which the habit is achieved for good and quietly stops paying, because the goal was always the routine, not the income. And a balanced-day bonus plus per-habit daily limits reward spreading effort across growth areas instead of grinding one easy win. For families without a kid's phone, parent-managed mode runs a child's habits, completions, and payouts entirely from the parent's app, while the child still gets their points, progress, and virtual card.
Billing runs entirely through Apple and Google's official in-app purchases (a free trial, then one family subscription; kids join free), so there are no ads and no data selling. Notifications are real-time push plus an in-app feed that deep-links straight to the relevant screen.
Key Features
- Habit catalog + custom habits across five growth areas (chores, social, cognitive, self-esteem, health), each with schedules, point values, and photo/video proof.
- Review & approve: parents confirm real effort before points are credited, and proof media is deleted after review.
- Points → real money at a parent-set conversion rate, with a QR "scan to pay" cash-out.
- Mastery targets: each habit pays only until the child reaches its target, then it's achieved for good and stops paying. The goal is the habit, not the income.
- Balanced-day bonus & daily limits: extra points for spreading effort across growth areas, with caps that make grinding one easy habit pointless.
- Parent-managed mode: works without a kid's phone. Parents run a child's habits, completions, and payouts from their own app, and the child still gets their points, progress, and virtual card.
- Ranks & streaks: kids climb from Baby Bunny to Legend Rabbit as they stay consistent across all five areas.
- Gifts: parents send bonus points with a personal note; a "virtual card" wallet screen shows each child's balance.
- Smart notifications: real-time push + an in-app feed that deep-links to the right screen.
- Kid-safe & bilingual: no ads, no tracking, minimal data; full English/Arabic with RTL and light/dark themes.
Results & Impact
Habit Rabbit is a real, shipping product on both major app stores, engineered end to end: product, design system, both mobile apps, backend, admin panel, billing, and the store launches. It spans three platforms and three tailored roles (parent, child, admin), a polished app built from a rich component library, a full backend over a relational database, and a solid suite of backend tests guarding the logic. Most importantly, it reframes a daily source of friction between parents and kids into something they do together, building routine and motivation without the constant reminders.